Seeking Depression Advice

If you have major depression disorder, then it’s just like having a disease like cancer. Your goal is to get your disease into a state of remission so that you can move on with your life. Just like cancer, you will always prone to your illness coming out of remission. Antidepressants help with the symptoms of depression so that you can address the underlying causes of your depression through talk therapy, etc.

I have major depression disorder and like you I fought going on antidepressant because I did not want to change parts of myself that I liked. I have dealt with depression all my life and would go through long periods where I would be fine and then suddenly hit rock bottom. Each of these episodes is worse than the previous one and in my most recent episode I began questioning life. It was at that point that I felt I did not have a choice but to give antidepressants a try.

So far they have helped with suicidal thoughts a my mood in general. It’s allowed me address events of my past in counciling and develop better copping mechanism to help keep me in the right frame of mind. I will most likely always be on antidepressants because I have had so many relapse with my depression. I would give it a try if you have exhausted all your other options and the depression is really impacting your life.

 

To over simplify what got me out of my depression, which I think it's good to go to basics and simplify things because in my experience a big part of my depression was overthinking everything. Anyway what really helped me was...

Forgiveness: truly forgive every person and thing. Even yourself. It doesn't matter how big or small whatever it is, but you really have to forgive. A video called "3 ways to be unfuckwithable" on YouTube touches on this as well as 2 other things that I found very helpful. After watching this video and focusing on the points discussed was a major turning point for me.

Outlook/attitude: I remember when I was depressed I had an extremely negitive lens. Anything could ruin my day and I was blind to anything good in my life. I know it can be really hard to find positives when life is mundane but try to be greatful and enjoy the small things.

Discipline: try to step way from instant gratification, this includes porn and extended periods of time online. Take a break for the phone and social media. From what I understand porn and other actives that release a lot of dopamine make all other aspects of life less enjoyable because your brain craving dopamine from prom or whatever it is. (That's not exactly how it works but doing some research about it can give you a different perspective on how abusing certain dopamine releasing activities can make other aspects of life feel like shit). Also building new habits and hobbies help combat this. This includes the popular ones here on nofap such as cold showers, exercise, sports, reading, meditating & eating healthier. One that I like is not waking up and then laying in bed on my phone and instead waking up a little earlier, making my bed and either working out or getting started on my homework.


This didn't end up as simple as I wanted, but I hope something in here sparks some interest to help you make change. I think the most important part of getting out of depression is making changes in your life. Don't focus on improving everything. Find a couple things you want to change and add more things to work on as you go, but start out with only a few things.

Nofap is a great catalyst to a better life but in not the end all be all to finding happiness.

I know you can find happiness, good luck!

 

It's like Robbie said, if it's Major Depression disorder, you might wanna look into medication. A lot of times, people are depressed because of things that are going on or things that have happened in their lives. I happen to fall in with the latter. If you're part of the latter as well, I'd avoid pills. If there's something in your life that you can fix, maybe try your best to work towards fixing it, although I know that's easier said than done. Depression can keep you from so much. It's hard to exercise or fix things in your life when you're so goddamn depressed you can't even get up. NoFap should help tremendously. I know for me it helps, but at first it can make you feel really depressed. That's what's going on for me right now, but I think that's just from your brain being low on dopamine because you're not PMOing anymore. Meditation helps too. I'm really not one to talk, because I go through depression and I have a really hard time controlling it. I'm just trying to help though, because I know how terrible it is. Pedro is really onto something also. Forgiving others and forgiving yourself can go a very long way. I also look at the world through an extremely negative lens, and I'm trying to work on that. It's fucking hard, but staying positive is one of the best things you can do. I remember watching a video of this guy talking about how the people who have the most seem to be the most miserable and the ones who have nothing are extremely happy. The simple things in life really are the best. I've found just going out in nature on a beautiful day will make you realize how beautiful life really is. All these tv shows, phones, video games, and things of that nature can be fun, but you shouldn't overindulge in them, because they won't make you truly happy. They only give temporary relief, and can even distract you from finding real happiness. I'm still working on my depression, so maybe I'll have more answers one day. Hope I helped somehow.

 

I've had similar problems with depression. It's been on and off. I couldn't get medication because my parents believed that I just had to just change my outlook and everything would be fine. Obviously it wasn't. My studies took a big hit due to depression and I didn't get into my dream college. So it was overall disappointment for me.Even now I have some mood swings but it's better than back then.
The point I'm trying to make with my story is I always feel I could've saved myself a lot of trouble, sleepless nights and suicidal thoughts if I had seriously tried to get some professional help. Even if you don't think it a major disorder I would recommend you to have a talk with a proper doctor. You can decide later if you want to take the medication based on the input you get from the doctor.
Anyway that was my advice, do what you think is best for you. Cheers

 

I am currently going through the same thing right now, I had fought going on medications for so long I just gave in. They've helped me get rid of thoughts of cutting and improved my mood day to day. I hope the meds continue to help you.

 

Yes I really get you on the exercise point, I'm always up and down on when I want to work out. I've only had personal experience with medications for about 6 months or so so I don't feel like I can strictly give advice on it. There have been days where I am awesome then there are other days where I've felt totally unemotional and disconnected. The most important part, for most cases I believe, is to constantly inform your doctor(s) what you are feeling and if depression sinks in more with medication to call a suicide hotline. I hope you endure your battles with depression and seriously give therapy + medications a thought. There may be others with opposing viewpoints like saying medications only cloud their minds and judgements, I am not sure of that either but be prepared for it.

 

Tried anti-depressants in my 20s, didn't help. But that's because I didn't have depression, I had a life that was falling apart. Funnily enough, the symptoms of having a shit life and being depressed are nearly identical.

So I would ask up front, are you leading a life that most other people would be happy with, but still feel like crap? That being the case, yeah, I would go seek professional help.
Or are you having a life no one would want? What's your social situation in school like? Friends & girls, bullies and beatings, or something inbetween? How's family life?

 

I've dealt with depression/dysthymia since I was a teenager, thrown in with a 2-year period of social anxiety in my 20's. Terrible time.

Like many people, I had negative views of antidepressants. However, after starting them, I can honestly say that I finally have control over my life. There is nothing to be scared about taking them.

The analogy I give is that being on antidepressants is like going bowling with gutter bumpers. The bumpers won't guarantee that you are getting strikes, but they will guarantee that you don't get gutter balls. Similarly with antidepressants. They won't make you feel great, but I can notice when they are working. For example, I can still get down from time to time, but this rarely lasts more than an afternoon or a day - I can feel myself rebounding out of the "gutter" much quicker, which allows me to focus my energy on positive things (exercise, personal development, school/work, social life, etc), rather than being in the gutter.

Talk to your doctor if you are feeling these symptoms. Depression is very common, and many people are on antidepressants - probably many of your friends and family. There is no shame!

Also, if you are having thoughts of harming yourself or someone else, please go to your local emergency department. Help is available, you don't need to suffer alone.

 

Unfortunately depression is way too broad to give a simple reply of things to try and your depression may be very different from others, though FWIW I've been there and St. Johns Wort was one of the first supplements I tried back in college. (about 20 years and many supplements ago)

Although it is very general advice it is important to have a fairly comprehensive approach to taking care of ourselves to cover all the bases, and that will involve educating ourselves in things that may not look like they are directly related to depression. These days I am keen on getting enough sleep and staying away from addictive online activity, even stuff besides the more obvious stuff like porn or social media.

Something I find interesting is the idea of functional medicine. The average lay person without the technical knowledge probably wouldn't be able to figure out exactly what to do nutritionally and so forth, but the principle I think is good. The popular physician and author Mark Hyman started out a talk citing a pharmaceutical executive saying in the future there will not be any blockbuster drugs, but only blockbuster MECHANISMS. Even if we do not understand biochemistry there are simpler ways we can understand the mechanisms that cause us to be in a depressive state, and of course we are aware PMO contributes to that, certainly in the long run and together. (vs. O alone, say) To me it is an ongoing learning curve, no quick answers but you can get better and better the more you understand yourself and how the body and mind works.